


Unforeseen complications

by Marine226



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2020-08-11 05:41:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 19,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20148574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marine226/pseuds/Marine226
Summary: ******COMPLETED*******An unexpected visitor to the Five-0 Headquarters changes Steve's life forever





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This work will be slower than my other works to upload because it's very much a WIP and I'm not sure exactly where I'm going with it yet. Comments help! :)

Steve stared at Danny, he couldn’t believe he was having this discussion again. He thought it’d been settled weeks ago, but no. Apparently the good ideas fairy was still playing silly buggers.

“They look hideous!” Steve exclaimed, “No Danno, those drapes should only be seen in one place…the bin”

“And I suppose you’re an expert in Italian furnishings now? Or maybe just in drapes in particular? I’ve seen your house, Steven, I don’t think you have any idea what good furnishings look like” Danny ranted at him, “These drapes came all the way from Rome – ”

“And they are hideous!” Steve interrupted, “And they didn’t come from Rome, I saw the invoice, they came from Florence”

“Regardless, these are the drapes that you adorn an Italian restaurant with, there are no two ways about it” Danny told him

“They’re not going up! I don’t know how many times I can tell you that” Steve responded, “Unless you want to scare away all the customers, is that what you want to do?”

“It won’t be the drapes that scare them off, it’ll be – ” Danny started

“Hey!” Tani’s voice at the door interrupted Danny mid-rant, “Sorry to interrupt the very productive work the two of you are doing - ”

“You’re not interrupting anything, the matter’s settled, I was just telling Danny he needs to burn some drapes” Steve interrupted

“You can’t burn them, they’re worth a fortune! Do you know how much I paid to order them? They’re not easy to find - ” Danny exclaimed

“Whoa whoa whoa, how much were they?” Steve asked

Before Danny could respond, Tani cleared her throat, “Gentlemen!”

“What?!” Danny and Steve asked in unison

“Boss, there’s a child out here asking for you” Tani told them

Steve frowned, “What child? Why is it up here?”

“What did you do?” Danny asked Steve

“What?” Steve asked

“Is this one of your spawn coming to meet their father?” Danny asked, then grinned, “I’ve got to see this”

“What?” Steve asked, but followed Danny and Tani out of the office.

Lou was crouched by a young boy, who couldn’t have been more than 5 years old. The boy was wearing a school uniform, despite it being a Saturday, and he looked grubby. His uniform was torn in a few places and there was dirt on most of the uniform and the kid’s face. 

“Hey buddy, I’m Danny Williams, this guy here is Steve McGarrett” Danny introduced them, “What’s your name?”

“Bobby Peterson” the kid responded, then looked at Steve, “My mum’s Tracey Peterson, she said find you if anything bad happened. She made me remember your address and where you worked”

Danny looked at Steve, who’d come closer when he heard the kid’s mother’s name. “You know Tracey Peterson?” Danny asked Steve

“Yeah” Steve nodded, then turned to Bobby, “So I take it something bad happened?”

Bobby nodded, his eyes tearing up. He quickly wiped his face with the back of his hands before replying, “I got home from school yesterday and the house was all messed up. There was paper all over the floor and the table was smashed up, and mum wasn’t there”

Steve exchanged a glance with Danny, he didn’t like where this was headed. 

“What happened after that?” Danny asked softly

“I went into the tree house and waited for mum to come home” Bobby responded, “But she didn’t”

Bobby sniffled and wiped his eyes again, “I tried to call mum’s phone, but all the phone’s in the house didn’t work. And I left my phone at school. Then I remembered mum saying that if something was wrong, I needed to find Steve McGarrett, so I started walking”

“You couldn’t have got a lift from one of your neighbours?” Tani asked

Bobby shrugged and looked down, “Do you know where my mum is? I want to go home”

Lou stood up and asked, “Hey Bobby, are you hungry? Have you eaten anything?”

“I’m starving!” Bobby exclaimed, looking up, “But I don’t have any money, I spent my money at the tuck shop yesterday”

“I’ll go get you something” Lou said, then walked out

“So you left home last night, did you walk all night?” Steve asked

Bobby nodded, then shrugged and shook his head, “I slept under a bridge about half way”

Danny exhaled sharply, clearly not happy with the situation. He was probably thinking about Charlie who was about the same age.

“Bobby, can you tell me your address? I want to check up on your house” Tani asked

Before Bobby could respond, Steve stepped in, “S’ok Tani, I know the address”

“You’re taking me home?” Bobby asked, brightening up since the first time he’d could into the office

“You’re gonna stay with Tani and Lou for a bit” Steve told him, “Danno and I are going to head back to your place, make sure everything’s okay first”

“But I really wanna go home” Bobby told them, looking to be on the verge of tears again

“I know son, but you’ve gotta stay here” Steve told him, “Tani and Lou will take care of you”

“But mum told me to stay with you no matter what” Bobby argued

Steve knelt next to the boy and looked into his face, then asked, “So your mum trusted me, right?”

The boy nodded and wiped his face again, clearly trying to keep his emotions under control. 

Steve nodded, then continued, “So that means that anyone I trust, you should trust too, right?” When Bobby didn’t disagree, Steve then said, “I trust my team with my life, which means that you should trust them too. What do you think?”

“I want to stay with you” Bobby told him, his eyes already welling up with tears again

“I know, but if there’s bad guys there, I’m gonna have to kick their butts and I won’t be able to do that if you’re there too” Steve told them

“But I could stay out of the way” Bobby volunteered, letting his tears finally fall

“You’d be out of the way if you stayed here” Steve responded, then wiped at the kid’s face with the cuff of his long sleeve shirt. “Besides, I bet you’re a bit tired. You could have a snooze here and we’d be back by the time you woke up. What do you say to that?”

Bobby thought about the proposal for a while, then conceded with a small nod.

“That a’boy” Steve said encouragingly, “We’ll be back in no time at all”


	2. Chapter 2

“So uh, Tracey Peterson, hey?” Danny remarked as soon as they got into the Camaro.

Steve shut the door and glanced at Danny, “Yeah”

“How come I don’t know about her?”

Steve put the car into drive and took off out of the parking lot, “Didn’t think you needed to know”

“Well, how long were you seeing each other?” Danny asked

Steve shrugged as he merged into the traffic, “About a month”

“And what? It wasn’t serious enough to let your partner know about?” Danny asked, clearly offended, but there was something under the thin insult that Steve tried not to think about.

“Look, she was a nice enough woman, but she had ‘ex’ issues” Steve explained.

“What do you mean ‘ex’ issues?” Danny asked.

Steve sighed, “Her ex hit her, that’s why he was an ex. He came back into her life, and I walked in on one of their disagreements”

“So you put him in hospital, right?” Danny asked, but it was more of a statement.

“Yeah” Steve responded, “Trace didn’t agree with my interpretation of events, so we didn’t speak about it afterwards”

“And that was it?” Danny asked, reading between the lines.

“Yeah, that was it” Steve agreed.

Danny sighed, “I’m sorry man, that’s tough”

Steve shrugged, “I mean, it could have been great, but she wasn’t ready”

“Is that why you didn’t tell me about her?” Danny asked.

“Didn’t want to jinx it” Steve responded.

“Didn’t think you believed in jinxing” Danny remarked.

“I don’t” Steve responded, “But one of my ex’s told me something that made me think”

“That must’ve hurt, right? The thinking that is” Danny asked with a grin.

“Oh, that’s funny” Steve responded, “She told me she hated the feeling like there was a third person in our relationship”

“What?!” Danny exclaimed, a grin on his face, “And which ex was this? Was it Michelle?”

“No, it wasn’t Michelle! And does it matter? It just got me thinking! Maybe I just need to keep these things to myself until I know for sure. We need to figure out who we are before we figure out who we are around other people” Steve responded.

“So who was the third person in the relationship?” Danny asked, still looking entirely too happy despite the conversation.

“It doesn’t matter, Danny, that’s not the point” Steve responded, “The point is that I need to keep my private life more private”

“Steven, your private life is so private that it’s even a secret from you” Danny told him, his grin getting wider, “And actually, I think it _does_ matter, who was the third person?”

Steve grumbled as he glanced at Danny, before looking back at the road, “You really wanna know, Danno?”

“No, no I don’t really want to know, I was asking just to hear the sound of my own voice” Danny answered sarcastically, then said more forcefully, “Of course I want to know, you putz!”

“The third person’s you Danny” Steve finally told him, then before Danny had the chance to say anything, they were pulling up at Tracey’s house, “We’re here”

“Okay, but just so you know, we’ll be finishing this conversation later” Danny told him as he got out of the car.

“Looking forward to it” Steve responded, exiting at the same time as Danny and checking his sidearm.

They made short work of clearing the house, putting their sidearms away when they were done. The house was a tip, it looked as though there had been a pretty violent fight. The coffee table was broken, as was a chair, and there was blood splatter on one of the walls.

“That’s a lot of blood” Danny commented, looking at the wall, then the pool of blood on the carpet.

“Call forensics” Steve told Danny as he left the room and went into the study.

Danny made the call and followed Steve from a distance, he wanted to keep an eye on his partner. He watched as Steve took in the detail of the study, then using a set of gloves, he went through the draws of the desk. Suddenly, he stopped searching, something having caught his attention.

Danny ended the call and went into the room, “They’ll be twenty minutes. What have you got?”

Steve glanced up at him, then picked up the object and showed it to him. “Old photo” Steve said.

The photo was of Steve and a woman that he assumed was Tracey. They were sitting at the beach, with Tracey sitting between Steve’s legs. He was lightly hugging her and they were both grinning madly at the camera. 

“You look happy” Danny remarked, watching Steve’s face intently.

“Yeah” Steve responded distractedly as he turned the photo around to look at it again. After a moment, he pocketed the picture and left the room.

“Where are you going now?” Danny asked, following the other man as he walked down the corridor, bypassing one of the rooms, before doubling back on himself to go inside.

Steve gazed around the young boy’s room for a moment; taking in the pictures on the walls and the assortment of toys strewn around the room. It vaguely reminded him of Charlie’s room. Then he spotted a backpack and had an idea.

Steve grabbed the bag and started filling it with clothes from the boy’s cupboard. At a questioning glance from Danny, he explained, “He won’t be coming back here for a while”

Danny grinned at him, “See? You’re learning! You’ve only known your son for a few hours, and already you’re looking out for him”

“He’s not my son, Danny” Steve told him steadily.

But Danny just nodded at him, giving him a look as though he knew better. Then he passed Steve a few of the toy cars, which Steve also stuffed in the bag. On the way out of the room, Danny noticed Steve grab another toy and stuff it into the bag. His grin got wider when he realised it was a G.I. Joe doll.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've finally got an idea of where to take this, but it's going to take a while to get it all on paper. I also have more of an idea of where this will go in a few chapters, but not so much for the immediate future.... Hopefully it won't be as long before I upload the next chapter.  
Hope you liked it! :P


	3. Chapter 3

“Hey Tani” Steve said as he waited for Danny to get into the Camaro, “I need you to look up a name, Marcin Brooks, I want to know everything about him”

Steve nodded a few times, making ‘uh-huh’ noises, before thanking Tani and hanging up. He glanced at Danny for a moment, before gunning the engine and taking off. 

“He the boyfriend?” Danny asked Steve, returning Eric’s wave as the man walked into the house.

“Marcin? Yeah, it’s worth checking him out, but hopefully Tracey moved on” Steve responded, “I figure we pay him a visit and if he’s no good for it, we broaden the search”

Danny nodded, “Good idea. So let’s get back to the elephant in the room”

“What elephant?” Steve asked, playing dumb and hoping Danny would just drop it.

“Bobby” Danny answered, “I mean, come on Steve, he has your nose”

Steve sighed, feeling frustrated, “Danny, he’s not my son”

“Well riddle me this, how old is Bobby? Huh? When’s his date of birth?” Danny asked, “We can do the maths”

“Danny, just drop it” Steve responded.

Instead, Danny dialled Lou and had a quick conversation with him. When he hung up, he watched Steve as he said, “Bobby’s birthday is 03 September 2012, so tell me again when you were dating Tracey?”

“It doesn’t matter, Danny, just drop it” Steve told him.

“Actually, it does matter! What’s the matter with you? Just answer the question!” Danny exclaimed, “When did you date Tracey?”

“January 2012, we met at a New Years Eve party” Steve finally responded.

“Steven, I know you struggle with simple mathematics – ” Danny started, but Steve interrupted him.

“He’s not my son, Daniel, I don’t know how many times I can say the same thing!” 

“Why not? What’s wrong with you? I thought you liked kids”

“I do!” Steve exclaimed, “Danny, I’m telling you to drop it!”

“So what? You like kids, but you prefer when you can give them back afterwards? Or you just want zero responsibility – ” Danny stopped talking as Steve brought the car to an abrupt halt.

Steve ignored the horns from the cars speeding past them and turned to face his partner, “Are you done?”

“What the hell is the matter with you?!” Danny exclaimed, his hands flying as if they had their own language.

The ringing of Steve’s phone interrupted the moment and Steve gratefully answered to find Tani on the other end. She gave him the address of Marcin, making Steve cut across four lanes of traffic to pull a U-turn and speed in the opposite direction.

Danny reached across and turned on the lights and sirens, then stared at his partner. Once Steve hung up, he relayed the message.

“Marcin was put away in June 2012 for grievous bodily harm. He was sentenced to 12 years, but was released early on good behaviour. He got out five days ago” Steve explained.

“Suspicious timing” Danny responded, “Got an address?”

“Residential address, work address and parole officer” Steve told him.

The two lapsed into an uncomfortable silence as they sped through the traffic on the highway. Danny cast a few glances at Steve before finally breaking the silence, “Look Steve, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to – ”

“It’s okay Danny, forget it, it doesn’t matter” Steve interrupted.

“Okay, I will” Danny said resolutely, “So, which of your girlfriends said I was a third wheel?”

“Not a third wheel, a third person in the relationship” Steve clarified.

“Uh huh, so which one?” Danny pressed.

“All of them” Steve responded with a grin at Danny.

“Whoa whoa whoa, eyes on the road!” Danny exclaimed.

Steve’s grin got wider as he pressed the accelerator harder to the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woot woot! So I had a few glasses of wine and my muse ran a muck, this is the product. I now have a better idea of where this is going and how to get there :P I'll probably still be slow to update, but never fear, I will finish it at some stage...
> 
> Let me know what you thought!


	4. Chapter 4

“Hear that?” Steve asked quickly as he ran up the stairs to the apartment Marcin was staying at.

“Sounds like screaming” Danny responded automatically, barely cataloguing that there were no unusual sounds coming from the place, as he moved to the side of the door. 

Steve kicked open the door and Danny ran in with his pistol pointed high. They cleared the apartment quicker than either anticipated, finding nothing unusual or out of place.

“Clear” Steve said, before holstering his weapon, “What did we miss?”

“Does he have family or friends on the island?” Danny asked as he put away his weapon.

Steve clicked his fingers a few times as he tried to think of something, “Yeah, Tracey mentioned something about him having a half-brother, Zack… Zack …. Argh! What was his surname?”

“You’re telling the story” Danny reminded him.

Steve ignored him, pacing around the lounge room as he tried to kick-start his memory. Finally, he stopped and quickly pulled out his cell, “Tani, I need an address for a Zack Fitzsimmons”

This time, Steve didn’t even bother using the excuse of hearing a ‘damsel in distress’, instead he waited for Danny to take his place on the other side of the front door to the derelict looking house and kicked in the door. Just like last time, they got through the house without anything looking out of place, at least until they got to the backyard. As they approached the back door, they heard talking and laughing.

Steve exchanged a glance with Danny for a moment, before glancing out the window. He saw two men sitting on deck chairs drinking beers and smoking dope. “The one on the left is Marcin” Steve whispered to Danny.

“On three? If they run, you take Marcin, I’ll take the half-brother” Danny told him.

Steve held up his fingers, silently counting back from three. Then they simultaneously burst through the back door, and unsurprisingly both of their suspects ran. 

Zack got about 10 feet before tripping over his own feet and tumbling to the floor. Danny grabbed him and slapped a set of hand-cuffs on him.

Whilst Marcin gave Steve a good chase. Steve chased Marcin through multiple backyards, then down the side of a house before crossing the street and through another set of backyards. Until finally, Marcin jumped over a fence, took a step and ended up in a pool. 

Steve followed, but stopped just short of the pool. He pointed his pistol at Marcin and told him to get out of the pool. When the man finally got out of the pool, Steve grabbed him and started hitting him. Every time he punched the man, Steve felt a bit better about leaving Tracey the way he did. 

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Steve!!!” he vaguely heard Danny speaking to him, but it made him no less inclined to punch the other man until he stopped breathing.

Suddenly he felt himself be bodily lifted away from the other man, and belatedly realised that Danny was pulling him away from the guy. He finally registered that Danny was speaking to him, softly saying, “Easy Steve, easy”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, short chapter, but I'm getting there. Still trying to work out some of the smaller details of this fic, in between trying to finish off the others I have on the go. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think! :)


	5. Chapter 5

The team came out to the address and helped cart the two suspects back to the Palace, whilst Eric and his team started digging up the backyard – where it was clear to everyone that something or someone had been freshly buried. 

When the team got back to the Palace, Danny pulled Steve aside and spoke in low, soft tones, “Me and Lou are gonna do the interrogation, you’ve gotta sit on the sidelines for this one”

“What are you talking about, Danny? No, I want to be in there making sure he gives a full confession” Steve argued, making hand-knives towards the blue room of interrogation.

“Yeah? And what if he didn’t do it? Steve, you nearly beat him to a pulp. You’re too close to this” Danny reasoned with him, then gave him an ultimatum that he knew his partner wouldn’t like, “You either watch from the feeds in HQ or you remove yourself from the investigation – and by that, I mean you don’t even get to come into the Palace”

“Danny, come on – ”

“Steven, I’m serious. It’s your choice” Danny responded, “You want this guy to fry, right? This is your only option. You trust us, trust us to do our jobs. If you come into the interrogation, this guy could walk on a technicality. Immunity and means only goes so far”

Steve tossed it around in his head for a while, before deciding that his partner was right, “I’ll watch from HQ, but if I see that – ”

“No, you stay put no matter what. Are we clear?” Danny asked.

Steve huffed, but eventually agreed, “Crystal”

In the end, the case was deceptively simple. Marcin confessed to murdering Tracey in a fit of rage. He’d been released from prison and after a few days, had decided to look up his old girlfriend. But she hadn’t wanted to see him, let alone get back together with him. 

Marcin had seen the pictures of Tracey and her son, signs that she had moved on with her life. He’d been overcome with jealousy, demanding to know who the man in her life was, demanding to know who she’d married. But she’d never told him. She never told him the name of the father and she never told him that she’d never married.

Marcin never knew that Tracey had been contempt to be a single mother. He never knew that Tracey had never told the father of the child, but he’d done the maths and realised that he was seeing Tracey during the period that she was likely to have been pregnant. He’d tried to get Tracey to tell her where his bastard son was, but she’d never said a word.

In the end, Marcin had killed her in a fit of rage, then enlisted his half-brother’s help to dispose of the body. And when your brother’s heavily addicted to marijuana, why not try a bit of the product?

Steve was still staring at the video feeds when Danny and Lou came back up to the HQ.

“Quite the story, huh?” Danny commented, stopping next to Steve.

“I could’ve stopped this from happening” Steve said softly, his eyes looking suspiciously red.

“If you say that you could have saved her, I’m going to have to hit you. You know that, right?” Danny asked him.

“I knew what he was doing to her, but I walked away” Steve responded, then turned his red eyes to Danny, “How can that not be on me? I knew what he was capable of”

“Some people just don’t want help, man” Lou threw in his piece, “I mean, we’ve all been there, at one time or another. We’ve all been to the scene where everyone there knows what happened, but nobody can do anything because you’re just waiting for someone, anyone, to speak up, to tell the truth”

“I was on holiday in London before I joined HPD” Tani started speaking, adding her two-cents worth, “I saw a man push a woman and she fell on to the street. I asked her if she was okay, but her boyfriend answered for her, saying she was fine. I called the police, but the woman maintained that it was a misunderstanding. Steve, you can’t help people who don’t want to be helped. I tried to help this woman, but she wouldn’t take it. I don’t know what she was going through, I don’t know anything about her other than what I saw” Tani told him.

“Doesn’t make me feel any better” Steve said, then retreated into his office.

**********

“Lou has an address for Bobby’s grandparents” Danny told him as he entered Steve’s office.

“You passed it onto Child Services?” Steve asked, well aware that Bobby had been placed in their custody shortly after they’d placed Marcin under arrest.

“Actually, they said they’re incredibly overworked at the moment” Danny responded, “But they talked to the grandparents, they’re going to meet us at the morgue for the identification”

Steve sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, “What about Bobby?”

“Child Services don’t want Bobby going to the morgue, they’re happy with us taking him to the grandparent’s place in two hours” Danny said, opening the door a fraction more. And suddenly, Steve saw another figure enter.

“Who goes there?” Steve asked, mockingly, a grin already spreading up his face as he stood up to get a better view.

A giggle was his only response, before a loud, “Me!!!” was shouted in his face.

Steve laughed as Bobby jumped up at him, then ran back around his office to grab something from his backpack, “Do you like transformers?”

“I like Actimus Prime” Steve told him seriously, frowning when the name didn’t sit right with him. He ignored Danny’s look which told him he’d fucked up already.

“It’s Optimus Prime, silly!!” Bobby said with a giggle, and got some of his transformer cars from his backpack, making zooming noises, “My favourite is Bumble Bee”

“Because he’s yellow?” Steve asked.

“No” Bobby giggled again, rolling his eyes dramatically at Steve, “Because he controls music”

“Oh” Steve said, unintelligently, “So uh, do you want to go see your grandparents?”

Bobby abruptly stopped playing with his transformers, “What about my mummy?”

Steve glanced at Danny for help, feeling out of his depth with such as simple question. Danny knelt next to Bobby and tried to explain, he licked his lips and thought about how he’d explain it to Charlie. Danny sighed and asked, “Have you had a pet animal that wouldn’t wake up?”

Bobby cautiously nodded, “A pet rabbit, he was called Peter”

Steve and Danny exchanged pained glances before Danny continued.

“What happened to Peter?” Danny asked.

“He wouldn’t wake up” Bobby said in a small voice, “Mummy said he’d gone to play with the angels. Where’s my mummy?”

“She wanted to make sure Peter was okay” Danny said softly.

“When’s she coming back?” Bobby asked, tears starting to roll down his cheeks as though he already knew the answer.

“She can’t come back, she’s with the angels now too” Danny told him, exchanging looks with Steve. Steve looked as though he was barely holding back a tidal wave of tears.

“You have to save her!” Bobby suddenly exclaimed as tears ran silently down his cheeks, “She has to come back! The angels have to let her go! What about me?”

“What would Bumble Bee do?” Steve suddenly interrupted, his own eyes glowing from unshed tears.

“He would save her!” Bobby cried.

“No he wouldn’t, not that way” Steve responded.

Bobby cried for a moment, then said quietly, “He would play her favourite song”

Steve swallowed thickly, then asked, “What was her favourite song?”

“It was, um, it went like this” Bobby finally responded, then hummed a few tones.

“With Arms Wide Open by Creed” Danny said, “It was Rachel’s favourite song for a while too”

As Steve and Bobby watched one another, Danny pulled up YouTube and entered the song to get it playing. 

“This is it” Bobby whispered after a while.

Steve came around his desk and knelt next to the boy he’d only just met, then held him in his arms as the boy sobbed for his loss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! This chapter was difficult to write and I have no doubt Bobby didn't quite grasp what happened to his mother, but hopefully it works okay for this part. I promise the story will get better - I hope... :P
> 
> Let me know what you thought! :D


	6. Chapter 6

“Grandma! Grandpa!” Bobby yelled, running out of Steve’s truck towards the house.

It took a moment before an elderly couple finally appeared. They embraced Bobby, then the gentleman came up to greet them.

“James Peterson” the guy introduced himself

“This is Detective Danny Williams and I’m Commander Steve McGarrett, Five-0 task force” Steve introduced them.

“Oh, you? You’re Steve McGarrett?” James asked, staring at Steve.

Steve exchanged a look with Danny before responding, “Yeah, why?”

“Oh, ah, nothing” James tried to recover, then explained, “Tracey told me a bit about you. Can we talk?”

Steve tried to not look uncomfortable, but couldn’t think of a reasonable reason to refuse the request. And certainly not when Danny was making shoo-ing gestures at him.

When they were finally alone, James started asking him the questions that he knew would come up sooner, rather than later, “So, I take it Tracey didn’t die of natural causes?”

“No, we have a suspect in custody, awaiting trial” Steve told him.

“Will it be a long trial?” James asked in a voice that had Steve watch him again, the man was trying hard to keep it together.

“The guy confessed and was planning on pleading guilty” Steve responded, “But you never know, what seems like a slam-dunk can easily turn around”

“But you’re more invested than that, aren’t you Steve?” James asked.

Steve frowned, “What do you mean?”

“Tracey told me about you” James responded.

“What did she say?” Steve asked.

James paused for a moment, “She said… She said a lot of things. She said she wished she’d taken you up on your offer”

Steve swallowed heavily, “To move in with me? I didn’t think she’d take it seriously, we’d only known one another for three weeks. But she didn’t want it. Not at the time”

James shrugged and sat down opposite him, “I think she changed her mind….especially after she realised you were Bobby’s father”

Steve stared at James for a moment, then responded, “I’m sorry Mr. Peterson, I’m not Bobby’s father”

“Tracey seemed to think you were” James insisted.

“Well, she was wrong” Steve responded, then when it looked like James wasn’t going to believe him, he added, “I’m sterile, I can’t have kids, no matter how much I want them”

“Oh” James said, apparently feeling sorry for him, “I’m sorry”

“Don’t be” Steve said roughly, “Not your fault”

James sighed heavily, “Why would Tracey lie?”

Steve shrugged, “Wishful thinking? I’m sure you met her boyfriend at the time. I guess when he was the likely candidate, you’d wish it was anyone else”

“Maybe” James agreed.

Steve sighed, “I should go. We tried explaining what happened to Tracey to Bobby, but ah… ”

“We’ll talk to him” James nodded and started showing him back to the car, “Steve? Don’t be a stranger”

Steve gave a small smile, “Take care James”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short chapter today, but never fear there's many more to come!
> 
> Hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought! :P


	7. Chapter 7

A week passed before Steve thought about Tracey or her son again. He’d deliberately tried to put them from his mind, especially after his conversation with Tracey’s father. Why would Tracey have told him that Steve was Bobby’s father? The thought that he could never have that hurt more than he wanted to admit.

Steve walked back into the HQ and spied Danny fluffing about in his office. Frowning, Steve wondered over and leant against the doorframe.

“Can I help you?” he asked, grinning when Danny jumped. He looked strangely suspicious.

“What the hell is that matter with you?” Danny exclaimed, then ran a hand through his hair, “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

Steve snorted and walked into his office to sit in his chair, “What are you doing in my office?”

Danny held up an envelope, a strange expression filtering over his face before he explained, “A lawyer came by earlier looking for you”

Steve stood up and made to grab the letter, but Danny pulled it back out of his grasp and tsked at him, “Where are your manners, Steven? Were you raised in a cave?”

“Can I please have the letter that is addressed to me? Mahalo a nui” Steve responded, making ‘give me’ gestures.

“It’s a good thing I like you” Danny commented as he handed over the envelope.

“What are you talking about, Danno? You love me” Steve said idly, as he opened the letter.

“What does it say?” Danny asked, standing on his tiptoes and peering in Steve’s direction, as if he could figure it out from where he stood.

Steve finished reading the letter then stared at Danny, and asked deceptively steadily, “Is this your idea of a joke?”

“What are you talking about? What does it say?” Danny asked, a frown appearing on his face.

In response, Steve tore up the letter angrily and threw it in the bin. As he stormed past Danny, he muttered, “It’s not funny”

“What?” Danny asked, but Steve was already heading out the double doors of HQ.

Danny frowned, then rounded the desk and grabbed the discarded remnants of the letter from the bin. He lined them up on the desk and quickly read it, trying to figure out what had his partner so wound up.

_Dear Steve, 24 March 2012_

_I’m sorry to tell you any of this this way. But I could never figure out how to tell you. I figure, if I ever get the courage to call your number, or drop by your office, and tell you, I can rip up this letter. But hey, if you’re reading this now, I died before that happened. But this is something you deserve to know. _

_I found out last week that I’m pregnant. The gynaecologist told me the baby was likely conceived around the 5th – 13th of January, and you were the only guy I was seeing at the time. _

_I’m trying to tell you that you’re a father. We never discussed it, so I don’t know if this is something you want. I hope you do. I’m going to go ahead with the pregnancy anyway, I want this. I’m not going to tell Marcin, I don’t think he’d be good for the baby._

_I hope that you’ve found happiness. I know you spoke of someone you fell in love with, but you didn’t think you could tell them. I’ve seen the two of you together and I think you’re cute – I’m assuming it’s _

Danny flipped the paper over, but there was nothing on the back. Steve must’ve taken the second page – which probably named whoever it was he was in love with, or had been 5 years ago. 

Danny ran out of the office and down to the parking lot. But when he got there, Steve’s Silverado was already gone. Grumbling, he jumped in the Camaro and took the chance that Steve hadn’t gone home. 

As Danny pulled up in the carpark at the top of the mountain that overlooked the city, he knew he’d made the right decision. He got out of the car and sat next to Steve on the stone wall where they’d had many a deep and meaningful conversations in the past, beginning with when Rachel had tried to take Grace away from him.

“What are you doing here?” Steve muttered, venom in his words.

Danny gave a shrug, “I didn’t write that letter. You want to tell me what’s going on? Because the guy I know wouldn’t get angry and run out of his office at the prospect of being a father”

“Don’t you get it?!” Steve snarled at him unexpectedly, but before he had the chance to spit more words at him, Danny interrupted him.

“Get what? Huh? You’ve gotta talk to me, babe. I can’t read your mind, I’ve tried, but there’s just nothing in there” Danny couldn’t help but insult his partner.

“I’m sterile, Danny, okay? I can’t have kids. I can’t have what you have” Steve finally told him.

“What?” Danny asked, because that was not what he expected to hear.

“Bobby’s not my kid, Danno” Steve said in a flat tone of voice. He blinked a few times to keep any tears at bay, he didn’t want to cry about this, he’d accepted this part of himself a long time ago.

“That’s not what I me– I mean, what makes you think that?” Danny asked, still more than a bit surprised.

Steve sniffed and momentarily turned his face away from his partner, before responding, “I – I got married when I was 18, did I tell you that?”

Danny shook his head and waited for Steve to continue. Eventually, Steve picked up the story, “Yeah, well, we decided we wanted kids. So we tried for about 18 months. I mean, I was away a lot because I’d just joined the Navy and they took a lot of my time. And then there was BUD/S”

“Anyway, eventually she told me that she’d gone and got tested and her gynaecologist said that everything was working fine for her. So…” Steve stopped talking for a moment, then added, “We got a divorce after that”

“Okay, but you got tested, right?” Danny asked, frowning deeply at his partner, “I mean, you guys get free medical”

“No Danny, I didn’t get tested. I mean, the results were pretty clear, right? We tried to get pregnant for 18 months and nothing happened, and my wife’s plumbing was fine, so it had to have been mine” Steve responded.

“You never got tested?” Danny asked as if he was asking the world’s dumbest person, then exclaimed, “What the hell is the matter with you? Have you never heard of people lying?”

“She wasn’t lying! Why would she lie about something like that? Huh?” Steve asked, feeling better about having something- or someone – to get frustrated with, it certainly worked better than feeling like crying again.

“Why would – Steven, you were virtually still children yourselves! Why would she lie? You were eighteen, _EIGHTEEN, STEVEN!_ You both had your lives ahead of you, why do you think she might lie? Huh?” Danny exclaimed, “Why the hell did you not just get tested anyway? Huh? It’s not like you would have had to pay for it!”

“Oh yeah, that woulda worked out just fine. Walking into the Navy medical centre and saying, ‘hey, I don’t think my plumbing works’, like that wouldn’t have gone down like a lead balloon”

“I’m sure they would have been discrete about it, Steve. The doc would’ve just given you a plastic container and a filthy magazine and told you to make yourself at home”

“That’s not what I meant”

“Sometimes I wonder about how you made it to 37 years old without adult supervision” Danny remarked under his breath, then dug out his phone and started dialling a number.

“What are you doing?” Steve asked.

“I’m making an appointment for you to finally get tested, my doctor is – ” 

“Stop, Danny, just stop! You don’t need to do that” Steve argued.

“Sure I do, you still have time to meet a lovely woman and settle down, have the white picket fence and everything” Danny said distractedly as he hit the green button to dial.

Steve lurched to Danny and grabbed the phone, then ended the call. “I said you don’t have to – I got tested”

“What do you – ” Danny took a breath and grabbed his phone back, “You _just_ said – ”

“I got tested a couple of months ago, the whole radiation poisoning thing? They ran a bunch of tests, that was one of them. I would’ve had to answer more questions if I said it wasn’t necessary, but… Anyway, you should’ve seen the look of the docs face when he had to tell me I couldn’t have kids anymore” Steve gave a pained smile, his eyes were shinning with unshed tears, “I didn’t have the heart to tell him I already knew, had done for a while”

“Steve…” 

“I’m fine, Danny” Steve responded automatically, though it was clear to both men that he wasn’t.

“So…? We call your ex-wife, what’s her name?” Danny finally said.

“You’re not calling her” Steve insisted.

“Fine, you don’t want to tell me her name, I’ll get Lou to look it up” Danny responded, “Come on, what’s her name?”

“Emma Weitz” Steve finally answered.

Danny shook his head, then dialled Lou and waited on the line whilst the other man got the number. Eventually he hung up and stared at Steve, “You want me to call?”

Steve stared at the piece of paper for a moment, then shook his head and stood up as he dialled the number. When Emma finally answered, Steve was momentarily stuck for words, the years falling away until he felt like that 18-year-old again.

_“Hello?” Emma asked again._

“Hey Emma, it’s Steve McGarrett” 

_“Oh wow, I – wow. It’s been a long time, how are you? Sorry, I can’t talk long, I’ve gotta get the kids to soccer practise” _

“You have kids?” Steve couldn’t help himself from asking.

_”Yeah, three boys. I keep hoping for a girl, but it wasn’t to be. Shane and I might try one last time though. Do you have any?”_

Steve felt like someone had punched him in the guts and he floundered for a moment to try to think of something to say, “No, I – I thought… Do you remember when we were together, before we separated?”

_ “Oh Steve, we were young. We weren’t ready for kids of our own. I … I didn’t stop taking the birth control pills. I didn’t want to have a child yet” _

Steve looked up for a moment, trying to keep his tears at bay, and his voice steady, “So when you said you got tested?”

_”I don’t know what I wanted to happen. But when you got deployed, I realised we couldn’t be together anymore… Steve, why are you asking about this now?” _

“You bitch” Steve gasped as he dropped the phone and fell to his knees. Tears obscured his vision, but he didn’t care anymore. He tilted his face up and screamed his helplessness and despair at the heavens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this explains some stuff. I feel like it's a bit OOC, but considering what Steve went through, not too out of sync with his character... Anyway, hope you liked it. 
> 
> Let me know what you thought! :P


	8. Chapter 8

Danny held onto Steve as the other man sobbed helplessly into his shoulder. When he finally stopped, Danny helped him up and loaded him into passenger side of the Camaro. Steve went willingly, totally pliant as though he wasn’t exactly switched on.

The drive back to Steve’s house was a silent one, not even Danny would break that kind of atmosphere. Then as soon as the Camaro stopped in Steve’s driveway, Steve got out of the car and went into the house.

Danny followed close behind, more than a bit concerned for his friend’s welfare. He watched as Steve went straight through the house to the beach on the other side, then he stripped down to his boxers and dove into the water. Danny shrugged, at least the man was back in his element.

He watched as Steve swam out until he was barely a spot in the water, then finally came back in. He gazed at Steve with an appreciative eye as the man walked up the beach, the other man probably didn’t realise that his underwear was leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination. 

Danny handed Steve a beer as the other man towelled himself dry.

“I don’t need a beer, Danny” Steve told him

“Sure you do” Danny responded

Steve flopped down on the chair beside him and grabbed the bottle, “I don’t know what you want me to say”

“You don’t need to say anything” Danny told him, then hold out his own beer bottle to Steve.

Steve frowned for a moment, then chinked the bottles together. They sat in companionable silence for a while before Danny finally spoke up, “Eric’s on his way over”

Steve glanced at him, “Not that I don’t enjoy his company, but why?”

“I told him to do a blood test on you and Bobby for familial links” Danny responded, levelling a gaze at him, “Tracey thought you were his father for a reason, it’d be good to know either way, right?”

Steve sighed deeply, then took a sip of his beer, “I guess”

Danny ducked his head, “You should probably put on some clothes before he turns up, your tiny whities are more than a bit see-through”

***

Danny followed Steve back into the house, where Steve ducked into the laundry. Before Danny realised what was happening, Steve had dropped his underwear and was rifling through the fresh laundry pile to find fresh ones.

“A little warning!” Danny exclaimed, but could hardly turn away, “You’re an animal!”

“See something you like?” Steve asked suggestively as he pulled on a set of boxers.

“Of course I do” Danny murmured.

“What?” Steve asked, turning back to him.

To hell with it, Danny thought. “I said, of course I do” Danny said, challenging the other man. The admission hung in the air between the two of them, but the spell was broken by the doorbell ringing.

Steve glanced uncertainly at Danny, before putting on a set of shorts and grabbing a t-shirt on the way to the door. Unsurprisingly, it was Eric who was there to draw blood. Eric and Danny made small talk as Eric collected a few vials of Steve’s blood.

“You moonlight as a vampire, don’t you?” Danny finally asked him.

Eric put on a funny accent and with a cocky smile, said, “Only on the full moon”

Steve and Danny exchanged glances, before staring at Eric with concern. “What?” Danny asked.

Eric shook his head, “I don’t know why I said that. It’s procedure to collect three vials; we’ll use one for the test, the second vial is in case we need to run extra tests or something happens to the first, and the third gets put into storage for 28 days”

“So Bobby has to have three vials taken too?” Danny asked, with a frown.

“Already done, I went to him first. He was really good, but he demanded a lolly pop from me afterwards” Eric responded.

“You didn’t have one, did you?” Danny asked with a smirk.

“No, so I gave him my malasada” Eric said, as he removed the needle from Steve’s arm and made him hold a cotton wool ball to the spot. “Okay, all done” he announced and placed a small bandaid on the area.

“Where’s my malasada?” Steve asked. 

Eric laughed, then sobered when he looked at the expressions on Steve and Danny’s faces. “Wait, you’re not serious, are you?”

“Completely” Steve responded with a straight face.

But Danny cracked a smile, “Go on, Eric, get outta here. I’ll look after buggalugs here”

Eric breathed out in relief, “Okay, results usually take about 24 hours, but I’ll put a rush on it”

“Thanks Eric” Steve said.

Eric gave a mock salute and left the house, leaving Danny and Steve alone again.

“Oh ah, Rachel called when you were playing ‘dolphin’ earlier – ” Danny started

“I prefer ‘seal’” Steve interrupted.

“Of course you do” Danny responded with a smile, “She asked if we can look after Charlie tonight, step-Stan wants to take her out for a fancy dinner to try to work things out”

Steve frowned and turned in his chair to face Danny, “You’re staying overnight?”

“Of course I am! What’s the matter with you? I’m staying with you until those results come back, babe” Danny explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“I don’t need a baby-sitter, Danny” 

Danny paused for a moment, “Well I disagree, and I wouldn’t call it baby-sitting, I’d call it looking out for my friend who’s hurting at the moment”

“Danny – ”

“Just say, ‘thanks Danny’” Danny interrupted him.

“Thanks Danno” Steve said with a genuine smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short one today, but the next should more than make up for it. I'm in the middle of moving house (and state), so may be a while before the next one...see how I go...
> 
> Hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought! :P


	9. Chapter 9

“Danny, are you sure this is okay?” Rachel asked for the hundredth time.

Danny sighed, “I wouldn’t have asked if it wasn’t”

“Okay, well look after him” Rachel responded.

“Charlie will be fine, babe” Danny answered.

“I wasn’t talking about Charlie, and you know it” Rachel told him, patting his cheek lightly, “I’ll be back in the morning”

“Danno!” Charlie exclaimed, running up to him and side-barrelling him, “Are we having pizza?”

Rachel grinned at him and waved goodbye, “Have fun”

“Always” Danny shot back as he closed the door, then turned to his son and picked him up, “What did I tell you about that? Huh? Did you become a ninja fairy when I wasn’t looking?”

Charlie giggled and put his hands above his head, “Higher, Danno!”

“Oh? Do you like that? What about when I do this?” Danny turned Charlie in his arms so he was upside down. 

Charlie shrieked with laughter, as Danny caught Steve watching the two of them playing. There was a calculating look on his face, but it was gone before Danny could ask about it. 

“I ordered a large supreme, a large bbq chicken and large ham and pineapple” Steve told him as he finally put Charlie back on the ground.

“Ham and pineapple’s my favourite!” Charlie shouted, jumping up and down, trying to see onto the benchtop.

“You heathen!” Danny gasped in shock, clutching at his chest in horror.

Charlie giggled, then turned to Steve, “Uncle Steve, can I play with your train set?”

“Go right ahead buddy, you know where it is?” Steve asked.

Charlie nodded, then bolted from the room to go play. Danny sighed as he watched him go, “I don’t know what it is, but he likes you”

Instead of the snarky response he expected from such an open line as the one he provided, Steve didn’t take the bait. Steve sighed a sat down, “I just… I don’t know, Danny. I’m scared, okay?”

“It’s okay to be scared, babe” Danny responded, sitting down next to his friend, reaching out to rest his hand on his shoulder.

Steve nodded, “I know. I just… I mean, this is my last chance, Danno. This is my last chance to have a kid. What if the results are negative? I spent the best part of my adult life thinking I couldn’t have kids, and now it’s too late. I had convinced myself that I was okay with not being able to have it, and I was okay with it. But now… now I have hope. And I don’t know what’s worse”

Danny rubbed Steve’s arm, knowing that the other man hadn’t finished his train of thought yet. He knew that Steve had trouble articulating how he felt and that sometimes it took time, so it was best to give him the time and space to sort out his feelings. Sometimes he wondered how the man had come this far without seeing a professional.

“And then… I mean, what if the results are positive? What then? I don’t know if I’m ready to be a father, Danny” Steve finally said so quietly that Danny nearly didn’t hear him.

“What the hell are you talking about?!” Danny exclaimed before his head could catch up to what he was already saying, “I mean, sometimes, pure unadulterated dribble spews forth from your lips, but I have never _NEVER_ heard you say something so stupid! Why do you think Charlie – and Grace, before him – liked – no, loved, spending time here?”

“Access to the beach” Steve answered with a shrug.

“Shut up! Just shut up, why are you even talking?” Danny shook his head, then grabbed his warm beer from the benchtop, “My kids love you and it’s got nothing to do with the beach. I’m just …. You know what, you’ll figure it out. How long till the pizza arrives? And why did you order so much? Or are you expecting company?”

Steve gave a small smile, “I guess. Thanks Danny”

Danny returned the smile, “Anyway, you know that we’re here to help anytime you need”

The rest of the evening passed by so quickly that Danny blinked and it was time to call it a night. They had made sandcastles and played in the water – or at least Charlie and Steve did – whilst waiting for the pizzas to arrive. Then Charlie had insisted that they watch Finding Nemo again whilst eating, because the first hundred times hadn’t been enough for the boy.

Charlie fell asleep half way through the movie, somehow ending up laying half on Danny and half on Steve. The two men watched the movie for a bit longer, then changed it over to the NFL. They bantered back and forth over which teams would end up in the Superbowl and who had the better players. Neither wanted to ruin the atmosphere by talking about what was really on their minds. The results loomed over their heads like a ghost, but neither would acknowledge it. Much like neither man would acknowledge the growing relationship between them and how it was starting to stop being sub-text. 

In the end, Steve called it a night after he let loose a large yawn and blinked tiredly at Danny.

“Seriously, you’re an animal” Danny commented.

“You’re the one that devoured a whole pizza and then some” Steve remarked.

Danny grinned, but didn’t answer as he picked up his tired son. “Come on buddy” he said softly as he carried him to the guest room.

Charlie mumbled as Danny tucked him into the bed and kissed his forehead, “Night Danno”

“Sleep well munchkin” Danny responded, “Don’t let the bed bugs bite”

But Charlie was already asleep again. Danny quietly got up and closed the door over, leaving it slightly ajar in case he woke in the middle of the night. 

As he walked back into the lounge room, he found that Steve had left the room, leaving a few sheets and pillow neatly folded up on the couch for him. Danny sighed softly, he didn’t mind sleeping on the couch, but he decided to push the envelope tonight. He turned off the lights in the lounge and grabbed a pillow before quietly padding up the stairs and going into the master bedroom.

As he walked in, Steve came back into the room from the ensuite. He raised his eyebrows in surprise, “Everything okay, Danno?”

“I think your couch has popped a spring” Danny waved his arm to indicate the couch, “I was thinking, your bed’s big enough for two, right?”

“Oh” Steve responded, then looked uncomfortable for a moment and he put on his thinking face, “Well uh, I mean – ”

“We could top and tail if you feel uncomfortable” Danny interrupted, giving the other man an out if he needed it.

Steve snorted, “I haven’t done that since I was a teenager, Danno”

Danny grinned, “So, that’s a yes?”

Steve scratched the back of his head as he thought over the proposition, but eventually caved in, “Yeah, I guess it is”

Danny snorted, then said sarcastically “Gee, don’t sound too enthusiastic, people will start talking”

Steve just smiled in response, then disappeared into the ensuite to brush his teeth. When he came back out, he stopped and stared at Danny who had made himself comfortable in the bed.

“Something wrong, babe?” Danny asked as he tucked the bedclothes underneath his chin.

“Yeah, you’re on my side of the bed” Steve responded, turning off the light in the bathroom so the only light came from the bedside lamp, casting a warm glow over the room.

“What are you talking about? I’m the guest here” Danny told him.

“Exactly” Steve responded, “It’s my bed, which means, you’re in my spot”

“What, were you raised in a cave? Did no one ever teach you to be nice to your guests?” Danny asked.

“I _am_ being nice. I mean, there’s always the couch” Steve offered.

Danny made a put upon noise and moved, “Fine, I’ll move, but only because I’m being the bigger guy here”

“Danny, you’ll never be the bigger guy” Steve said as he climbed into the bed beside his partner, “You hate the gym”

******

When Steve woke up the next morning, he found himself plastered to Danny’s back. He inwardly groaned and cursed his inner need to play big spoon to the man he wasn’t even sure returned his feelings. Though he was pretty sure Danny was testing the boundaries last night, he’d have to check his couch because he didn’t think it had popped a spring.

He quietly disentangled himself from Danny’s body and got out of bed. The ocean called his name and it wouldn’t be ignored. He threw on his board shorts and disappeared from the room, sure that Danny would still be asleep once he got back from his swim. He could even surprise him with freshly brewed coffee and maybe a bagel in bed…

Steve grinned as he walked out to the water and swam until the house was barely a spot on the shore. He swam a bit further, needing to clear his head for the possibilities that today could bring. He needed to be able to respond appropriately to either scenario.

When he got back to the house, Steve spied Danny making fresh coffee in the kitchen. “You’re up early” he remarked as he walked in.

Danny wordlessly handed him a towel, which was his first indication that he should pay attention. A silent Danny was never a good thing. Danny waited until he was dry before finally speaking, “The results came back”

Steve sighed and threw the towel to one of the spare chairs, missing by a country mile. “Do I want to know?” he asked.

Danny shrugged, “I couldn’t decide how you’d want to find out, so I figured I’d leave the option to you. I can tell you the answer, or if you prefer privacy, I wrote the result on this paper” he held up an envelope, “Which you can open when I leave the room. Option’s yours”

Steve rubbed the back of his neck nervously, then held out his hand for the envelope, but stopped Danny from walking out, “Wait! Can you – can you wait?”

Danny nodded and clasped his hands behind his back, seeming to understand that he wanted Danny close by, just in case. Steve watched him as he opened the envelope and unfolded the paper. 

He closed his eyes and looked up at the ceiling, sending silent wishes of the result to any of the Gods who would listen to him. When he finally felt ready, he opened his eyes and gazed at the paper in front of him. He re-read the sentence a dozen times, before finally lifting his eyes to Danny’s.

Steve swallowed convulsively as he tried to get his vocal cords lubricated enough for speech, but when he tried to say something, it only sounded like a frog. His eyes burned from unshed tears, but he was an ex-SEAL dammit! He wasn’t allowed to cry! At least not about something like this! He swallowed and tried again, “Danny?”

“What did it say?” Danny asked him, as though he wasn’t the one that wrote the note.

“It said” Steve stopped as a sob broke free from his mouth. He got control of himself before continuing, “It said, ‘Congratulations, it’s a boy’” Steve responded, a lone tear finally falling free from his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, I finally arrived back in my home town after the massive road trip. Now I just need to find a house :)
> 
> Hope you liked this chapter, it took me a while to finalise. I was thinking about it as I was driving and it's on the same lines as I wanted it to be. More to come! Let me know what you thought! :P


	10. Chapter 10

Danny gave the best hugs. Steve could put his hand on his heart and say that with the utmost sincerity. He’d even had two such hugs in the past 12 hours! Which made him start to wonder…

Danny finally pulled free from the embrace, “Okay, time to bust out the champagne”

“Danno, it’s not even six in the morning yet” Steve protested.

“Firstly, I’ll have you know that is actually three minutes passed six” Danny responded as he glanced at his watch, “And secondly, are you kidding me? That sort of news doesn’t care what time of the day it is! Babe, come on, we need to celebrate! Where’s the champagne? I know Cath left some here from the last time” Danny added as he went digging into the fridge.

“But shouldn’t I go talk to Bobby’s grandparents?” Steve asked, still feeling uncertain of himself and what he needed to do in this situation. His head felt as though it was stuffed was cotton wool balls and it was making it hard to think. What day was it? Would Bobby have school today? Would it matter if he missed a day? Would he even want to see Steve again?

“At this hour? Come on babe, they’re still probably fast asleep. You’re allowed to take a moment to just be happy” Danny responded as he put the champagne bottle on the counter and went in search of some glasses.

“Danny – ” Steve started.

“Don’t ‘Danny’ me!” Danny interrupted, “Be happy! Okay? I know what this means to you! Would you just act like a normal human being for once?! Huh? This is a special occasion and special occasions need to be celebrated, now hold this”

Danny gave him a plastic champagne flute, then filled it with the amber liquid, then he filled his own. He held his glass up and made a toast, looking Steve in the eye as he did so, “To continuing the McGarrett family line”

Steve raised his glass and took a sip, trying to ignore the way his eyes reddened with Danny’s words. He raised his own glass and made a toast, trying not to choke on the words, “To my son”

“To Bobby” Danny responded, raising his glass.

“To Bobby” Steve agreed, through teary eyes, then put his glass down, “Danny, what do I do? I don’t know the first thing about raising a kid”

“Steven, you practically helped me raise not one, but two kids, you’ll be fine” Danny assured, “Just think, Charlie and Bobby are around the same age”

“They could be friends” Steve said, catching on to what Danny was saying.

Danny grinned, “They’d be the best of friends”

“They’d get each other into trouble” Steve warned.

“Like you would have it any other way!” Danny exclaimed, “I’m sure you’ll have Bobby teaching my son how to blow up toilets in no time at all!”

“Why toilets?” Steve asked.

“Why not?” Danny responded, “And anyway, you’re missing the point. The point is that if - ”

“Danno?” Charlie’s voice sounded from the doorway to the kitchen. The two men turned to see Charlie standing in his pyjamas, rubbing tiredly at his eyes, “Do I have to go to school today?”

Danny smiled at his son, “Yeah buddy, it’s Thursday today”

“But I want to stay here and have a beach day with you and Uncle Steve” Charlie told them, putting on a pouty face.

“What makes you think – ” Danny started, then saw Steve’s feet and it clicked into place, “Oh, sandy feet, yeah, well Uncle Steve thought it was the weekend too, so he wanted to get a head start on building a sandcastle. But I told him that was cheating and made him come back inside”

“Is that why you’re sad, Uncle Steve?” Charlie asked, looking at Steve with such an earnest expression that Steve had to tell him the truth, or at least a version of it.

“Oh, I’m not sad kiddo, these are tears of happiness” Steve responded, then added, “Sorry for trying to cheat”

Charlie looked at him with a solemn expression on his face and nodded, “That’s okay, Uncle Steve, but you’re not allowed to do it again. Danno, can I go watch cartoons now?”

“You can, but you need to jump in the shower soon and start getting ready for school. Mum’s picking you up at seven” Danny replied.

As Charlie left the two men together again, Danny indicated his son with a nod of his head and said, “You need to get ready for that, won’t be long before your fielding those questions too”

Steve nodded, “I know, Mahalo Danny, for everything”

The morning passed quickly, with Danny’s making breakfast for them all, making sure Charlie was showered, then helping Charlie find a misplaced shoe. It all ended up in a rush, even though they had plenty of time when they started getting ready. Before long, there was a knock on the door and Rachel came in, looking for Charlie.

“Sorry I’m late Danny, traffic this morning is terrible” Rachel said as she came in, “Is he ready?”

“Just found the shoe” Steve called, then asked Charlie, “You okay fitting this yourself?”

Charlie just rolled his eyes exaggeratedly at him and put the shoe on, not bothering to untie or tie the laces, then announced, “Done!”

Steve frowned, but let Charlie run over to Rachel. He handed her the backpack and smiled at her, “Morning Rachel”

“Hi Steve, sorry we need to go” Rachel apologised again, then herded Charlie out of the house, “Go get into the car, Charlie, I’ll be there in a moment”

Steve hung back in case Rachel wanted a private moment with Danny, but he still heard her harsh words.

“Danny, what were you thinking? It’s only just after seven in the morning and you’re drinking already?! With a child in the house! Do you – ” she started.

“Sorry Rachel, that’s my fault” Steve interrupted, “I suggested we drink to celebrate – ”

“I wasn’t talking to you, Steve! But now that I am, shame on you! You call yourselves responsible parents? If this is the behaviour that I can expect from either of you, I won’t be asking you to look after Charlie again!” Rachel exclaimed. With that, she stormed off and got into her car.

The two men watched as she started the car and left the house in a hurry, not quite speeding or being careless, but it was faster than she needed to go. Danny turned and looked at Steve, “Sorry babe, that’s my fault, I shouldn’t – ”

“No Danny, she’s right” Steve interrupted, putting down the empty champagne flute that he’d unconsciously been carrying around most of the morning. He’d just forgotten he’d had it in his hand with all the madness. 

“She’s right, what was I thinking? I’d be a terrible parent” Steve continued, “I don’t even know the first thing about children or about raising them, who am I trying to fool here?”

“Steve, no, don’t get sucked into her world. You’ve gotta remember that all she saw was us carrying around empty wine glasses in the morning, but she didn’t know why. Of course it’s going to look bad from her point of view. But this, this isn’t on you” Danny tried to convince him to see reason, but Steve wasn’t having any of it.

“No Danny, I just… I can’t do this” Steve replied, then disappeared up the stairs.

“Where are you going?” Danny called after him.

“To shower, Daniel, because it is a work day and I’m going into work, and if there’s still no active cases, I’m going to call my lawyer” Steve called back.

“Why?” Danny asked as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he was dreading the answer, but he needed to hear it.

Steve appeared at the top of the stairs and looked down at him, “Why? I’ll tell you why, Danny, I’m going to give up my parental rights to Bobby and you’ve gotta do that through a lawyer. And I bet you’re going to ask why again, right? Well I’ll tell you, I’m not cut out to be a father, Danny. I wouldn’t know the first thing about it. It’s not like I had the perfect childhood myself so I don’t even know what that looks like. The best thing for Bobby right now? Is to be with his grandparents

“You know where the door is, Danny, you can see yourself out. See you at the office” Steve finished, then walked away before Danny could get a word in or try to change his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh, the suspense!!! :D
> 
> Sorry this took so long, it took me a while to write. I wanted to get it right. 
> 
> I'd apologize for Rachel being a bitch in this chapter, but I'm not sorry about that. She'll come around in later chapters, I'm sure. She's not generally bitchy in this fic - or not supposed to be anyway.
> 
> And I couldn't figure out where to put it in this chapter, but Steve and Danny only had that one glass of bubbles. They're not big drinkers and certainly not of champagne anyway.
> 
> Anywho, hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought! :P


	11. Chapter 11

Danny left Steve to his own morose thoughts, knowing that he was going to have a hard time convincing him that he was making the wrong decision. At least until he could find a way to convince him otherwise.

He left the house, deep in thought and nearly didn’t notice that someone had brought Steve’s car back, parking it next to Danny’s. He assumed it was Junior, the guy seemed to have pseudo adopted Steve as a brother, which only made sense given his SEAL history.

Danny jumped in his Camaro and slowly drove away, a plan starting to take shape in his head. He needed to make some phone calls to make this happen. He needed to call Duke to make sure five-0 had enough case work to do so that Steve didn’t have any free time to do something stupid, something like making a life-altering decision. Then he needed to talk to Lou to make sure Danny’s absence wouldn’t be noticed, he wouldn’t be going in to work today, too much to do.

But first, he needed to call Rachel and give her a piece of his mind! If she had kept her mouth shut, they wouldn’t be in this mess and Steve would probably be on his way to picking up his son. Instead, the man looked like somebody had removed his insides, leaving him just the shell of the man he was before. 

At least now with a plan in mind, he felt better about the whole situation. Danny dialed Rachel’s number and waited impatiently for her to answer, his thumb tapping away on the steering wheel as he waited.

***

Steve rested his head against the wall of the shower and tried to convince himself that this was the best thing for all involved and wallowing in self-pity wasn’t going to help anyone. He wasn’t cut out to be anything to anyone; he wasn’t cut out to be anything other than a single man without dependents. 

He couldn’t even hold down a serious relationship, and he couldn’t get a pet because of the hours he worked. How would it be fair to a child? 

He thought of Mary and wondered how she had done it. She had the same upbringing that he had, the same example of ‘good’ parenting, and yet, she had succeeded. She hadn’t just succeeded, she’d smashed it, she’d blown any and all expectations he’d had to smithereens.

Maybe it was just a reflection of himself as a person. Where his sister had succeeded, passed with flying colours, he would fail. He would fail because his experiences were in taking lives, not giving them. He would fail because he couldn’t even keep the pet plant alive that Adam had given to him as a gift. He would fail because he was just a shit human.

The more he thought about it, the more reasons he came up with to give up his parental rights. It just made sense. It was logical.

But it didn’t stop him from wanting it all the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year!!!
> 
> Sorry for the long delay, I got a bit stuck. I'm still a bit stuck, which is why this is a short chapter. Hopefully my muse will come back and we can get this thing back on track :)
> 
> Hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought! :P


	12. Chapter 12

Steve looked up from his computer screen as somebody entered his office, hoping that one of his team had a lead. He was surprised to see Danny come in, suddenly realising that he hadn’t seen the other man since he’d left his house this morning.

“Where have you been?” Steve demanded, his foul mood getting the better of him.

“And good afternoon to you too” Danny responded as he flopped into one of the armchairs opposite Steve’s desk, and sighed heavily, “I have been running around like a headless chook all day, no thanks to you”

“You can thank Duke, he gave us the cold cases” Steve responded offhandedly.

Danny made an aborted hand gesture before answering, “Yes well, I have a lead, I need you to come with me”

“Take one of the others, I want to get on top of this” Steve answered, turning back to his computer screen. 

“I would, but I don’t know if this’ll amount to anything” Danny replied, not moving an inch from the chair, “I need a second set of eyes to make sure”

“Well, take it to the briefing table, that’s what it’s for; to bounce ideas off of one another” Steve told him.

“Yeah, well see here’s the thing, it’s more of a hunch. Anyway, I’m going to check it out no matter what you say, and you know, I can’t go alone. You’re my backup, remember?” Danny responded, playing to Steve’s hand. “And Lou said you’ve been in here all day anyway and that can’t be healthy. Have you even had lunch? We can pick something up on the way”

Steve finally caved, his stomach growling softly as a reminder that he hadn’t had much to eat all day, “Fine, but I’m driving”

Danny grinned, “Don’t you always?”

Steve rolled his eyes, but got up and followed Danny out of his office. He double checked his weapon was in place and spied Lou at the briefing table, looking at the screen with an intense look of concentration. “Got something?” he asked.

Lou turned to him with a look of surprise on his face, as though he didn’t know he was there before, “No no, nothing like that, just trying to make sense of these files”

Steve grunted, “Yeah, I know what you mean. Danny and I are going to go check on a lead”

“Okay, well have fun” Lou responded, then nodded to where Danny was waiting, “Looks like your ride is getting impatient”

Steve’s spidey senses suddenly perked up, thinking it was strange that Lou didn’t ask more about where they were going or what lead they were chasing. “Yeah, we’ll try to. You don’t want to know about the lead?”

“Nah man, Danny mentioned something about it earlier” Lou responded, glancing at Danny again.

“Oh he did, did he?” Steve asked, Danny hadn’t said anything about that when they were talking earlier.

“Hey guys, I think I’ve got something” Junior announced as he walked into the room.

“Why don’t you two take off?” Lou suggested to Steve, “We can take care of this”

“You sure?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, we got this Sir” Junior answered, then took over the briefing table.

“Okay, keep me updated though” Steve finally responded, “Come on Danno”

“Waiting for you, babe” Danny told him as he walked out of HQ.

****

“Good save” Lou said to Junior as soon as the doors closed behind Steve and Danny.

“Ah thanks, but I really do have a lead” Junior responded, bringing some files up on the big screen, “Taylor Dixon went missing six months ago, HPD canvassed all of her friends and family, but her boyfriend’s story doesn’t add up. He said he was at his friend, Pete’s, place until 2100 on the day Taylor disappeared, but Pete said he left at 2300. I don’t know if it means anything, which may be why HPD didn’t look into it. It could be nothing”

Lou shrugged, “Any lead is a lead worth investigating. When was Taylor last seen?”

“She left her friends after seeing a movie, she was last seen at 1930” Junior answered.

“Okay, take Tani and see what he has to say” Lou told him.

****

“Where are we going, Danno?” Steve asked. They’d been on the road for half an hour, with Danny directing Steve to wherever this lead was.

“Nearly there, babe. Take the second left, then the first right” Danny responded, not giving anything away.

Steve grumbled under his breath, but did as he was asked. “Fine, but at least tell me what we’re walking into”

“I will, just not yet” Danny answered, “And anyway, it’s nothing dangerous. You’ll understand in a minute”

“Which case did you say this was about?” Steve asked, getting more and more suspicious by the second.

“I didn’t. Drive to the end of this street and it should be on our left” Danny evaded again.

Steve pulled the car over abruptly and turned to Danny, trying to keep his calm as he said “I never thought this would be a conversation we’d need to have, Danny. Tell me what we’re walking into; I don’t want to go into this situation blind”

“Okay fine, you want to know? I called James Peterson – Bobby’s grandfather, remember him? – I told him what you’re planning on doing. He wants to talk to you and – ” Danny finally said.

“I’m not changing my mind” Steve interrupted.

“You’re making a big mistake! How do you not see that? What the hell is the matter with you?!” Danny exclaimed, his hands waving around so frantically Steve would be lucky not to get hit in the face with them. “You told me just yesterday how much you wished you had kids and now you have the opportunity, but you just want to blow it away!”

“I’d be a terrible father, Daniel! This is for the best!” Steve responded in frustration.

“For the love of …!” Danny exclaimed, throwing his hands skyward, “Steven, you would be a great father, you just need to give it a chance. Would you just…. We came all this way and James is just down the road, waiting for us, would you just hear what he has to say?”

Steve ran a hand over his face and sighed heavily, “Fine I’ll listen, but he won’t change my mind”

“We’ll see” Danny answered, praying to any and all of the gods that were listening that Steve was wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still a bit stuck, I felt like this chapter was a bit all over the place, but hopefully it made sense.
> 
> The lead that Junior found may pop up again, but doesn't have any relevance to what's going on with Steve / Bobby. I just thought it would be amusing that he saved the day, but had really found something :D
> 
> Hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought! :P


	13. Chapter 13

“Is this the place?” Steve asked as he steered the Camaro into a parking lot beside what looked like a grandstand for an oval.

“Yeah, James said he’d be waiting for us in the grandstand” Danny responded as Steve took his time finding a park, “In your own time, of course”

Steve gave him a withering look, “You told me to take my time”

Danny thought for a moment, then shook his head, “Doesn’t sound like something I’d say”

Steve snorted, but finally parked the car and sat for a moment. He felt like a bundle of contradictions. He wanted to talk to James; he secretly hoped the man would try to convince him to look after Bobby, but he also felt like it would just be easier if the man told him he would prefer it if him and his wife looked after the youngster. But he also didn’t want to talk to James, in case he agreed with Steve that the best thing for all involved was for Steve to keep his distance.

“I’d ah, just wait in the grandstand with James, but I feel like you’d just take off again” Danny remarked, as he leant against Steve’s doorframe. 

Steve blinked, wondering when Danny had gotten out of the car and around to his side, not to mention opening the car door itself. He must’ve been lost in his thoughts, but Danny wasn’t wrong. As much as he did or didn’t want to talk with Bobby grandfather, he really wanted to avoid having the discussion altogether. He attempted to explain it to Danny, but nothing of any value came out, only ahs and ums.

“I’ll come with you” Danny suddenly suggested, offering his hand.

Steve frowned at Danny’s hand, but Danny hadn’t led him astray before, so why would he now? Steve grasped Danny’s hand and let himself be led to the bleachers, only letting go when he noticed a small bunch of kids on the field. He stood for a moment and watched them, memories of his younger childhood years popping into his head.

“This way” Danny said softly, guiding him again.

Steve followed Danny wordlessly until they approached James, who was sitting in one of the seats, also watching the kids. When he saw them approach, he smiled and stood up.

“Daniel, good to see you again” James greeted Danny first with a firm handshake.

“Same to you” Danny responded, returning the gesture.

Then James turned to Steve and his smile got wider, “And who do we have here? Good to see you again, son”

Steve returned James’ embrace, not sure whether he was more surprised by the hug or the endearment. He couldn’t help himself from asking, “Son?”

James nodded as they stepped back out of each other’s space, and explained simply, “You’re my grandson’s father, you’re ohana”

Steve nodded awkwardly, feeling his emotions rise to the surface again. He was surprised by the depth of emotion he felt from the simple endearment and the explanation surrounding. It just made him feel so welcome and accepted.

As if realising how Steve felt, Danny gave him a moment when he remarked, “I’ll uh, I’ll give you two some space to talk. I’ll just be over there”

“Mahalo Danny” Steve responded.

“Please Steve, sit with me” James asked, gesturing to the seats. After they’d sat, James pointed at the field, “Young Bobby loves his football, he wants to be the next big quarterback for the Steelers”

Steve snorted and asked with disbelief, “The Steelers?”

“Oh yeah” James agreed, not taking his eyes of the youngsters running around and doing drills, “His mother lived in Pittsburgh long enough to be a convert, unfortunately Bobby caught her enthusiasm for the team. I’ve tried making him go for Hawaii, but so far, I’ve had no luck at all”

“Do you always watch his training sessions?” Steve asked.

“I always tried to, but nowadays I find myself here more than I’m not” James responded, “He’s a good little player. He gets his fair share of injuries too. Were you an accident-prone child, son?”

Steve felt his heart warm again at the simple endearment, but answered before it got awkward, “Some people would say so, yeah”

“Mmm, so is Bobby, he must get it from you. He’s always breaking this or getting stitches in that” James explained, “He was born three weeks premature, you know? Tracey was afraid she was going to lose him”

Steve raised his eyebrows in surprise, “No, I didn’t know that”

“Yeah, it was a tough time, but he pulled through. Judy wanted me to show you this,” James answered, picking up an A4 sized book that was sitting next to him and passing it to Steve, then explained, “She’s very into these artsy craftsy things at the moment, just another phase I’m sure…”

Steve opened the book and found that it was a photo album. The first page showed a picture of Tracey, standing with a hand placed on her abdomen, but there wasn’t a bump yet. On the other side was a description saying, ‘today your baby is the size of a carrot’ and underneath was a photo of Bobby from an ultrasound.

“She was surprised when she first found out she was pregnant, but she was determined to make it work” James stated, “She was so happy”

Steve flipped the page and saw more similar photos. He wordlessly flipped through the book, watching as Tracey’s bump went from noticeable to bigger to about to pop. Then finally the photos of Bobby as a baby.

“I think she wished you were there” James said softly.

“Me too” Steve responded, when he felt as though he could speak without sounding like a frog. He blinked back tears as he looked through the photos of Bobby’s early childhood and how he developed into the youngster that he knew now.

“He’s a good boy, Steven, and he deserves a good home with his father. Now, don’t get me wrong, Judy and I love him to bits, but we’re older now and we don’t think we’d have the energy to run around after him, doing the things that young children like to do” James said.

“I don’t think my lifestyle is that conducive to raising a child either, I mean, my job is dangerous and I’m away a lot. And of course, I have guns, he doesn’t need to be around that” Steve argued.

“I’m confidant you know how to make guns safe in a household, Steven, and I’m sure that when he’s old enough, you’ll teach him more about gun safety. And as for the ins and outs of your job, your partner makes it work, why can’t you?” James asked.

“He doesn’t have sole custody, James” Steve answered, “I would, that’s the difference”

“I think you’re making excuses” James told him, “I think you’re scared and you would rather avoid the issue than deal with what makes you uncomfortable”

The two men sat in silence for a moment, both lost in their own thoughts. Then James asked, “Why don’t you tell me about your family?”

Steve sighed and put the photo album on the seat next to him, “My mother faked her death when I was fifteen and soon after my father shipped me off to the mainland. I’ve recently reestablished ties with my mother, but she’s off doing what she does best…I rarely see her”

“That must be difficult” James stated, more than asked.

Steve shrugged, “I thought she was dead, not seeing her now…”

“Doesn’t make it any easier. Family is family” James stated, “Okay, what about your father?”

“He died about eight years ago” Steve answered.

James snapped his fingers, “Of course! My apologies, I remember Tracey telling me about that. She told me you blamed yourself? If what she tells me is true, there is nothing you could have done”

“Mahalo James” Steve responded, figuring it was best to just agree with the guy. “So yeah, and then there’s my sister, Mary and her daughter, Joannie. They live on the mainland, we see each other a couple of times a year”

James nodded, “Okay, and do you have any girlfriends?”

“No, not at the moment” Steve answered.

“Boyfriends?” James asked.

Steve frowned, “I’m sorry?”

“I’m old, son, not blind” he nodded towards Danny, “You two are quite close? He was pretty upset with you when he came around to our house this morning. I don’t have any friends that are that close, not enough to do what he did for you. He thinks you’re about to make a disastrous decision that you’ll regret for the rest of your life”

Steve glanced between Danny and James for a moment, before agreeing, “Yeah, he’s pretty special”

“Make sure you hang on to him” James advised, “He’s a keeper. Now, before I get too ahead of myself, what are you doing for dinner tonight? Judy wants to make dinner for you, she said you look like you need a good meal”

Steve blinked, trying to keep up with the change of pace, “Um, I ah, I mean, I don’t know. I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet”

“Excellent, I’ll let her know that you’ll come along. Should I tell her to put out an extra placemat?” James asked, nodding towards where Danny was now helping the coaching session.

Steve frowned and considered the question. Danny had done so much for him recently, it would be unfair if he didn’t at least ask him. But why was Danny so invested in this situation? Outside of Danny wanting a playmate for Charlie of course… Why did Danny care so much about Steve making this decision?

Maybe it was the same reason that had Steve responding, “Yeah, mahalo James, that would be amazing!”

Not that Steve was ready to analyse that at all… not yet anyway…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, real-life taking over and all that hoo ha. 
> 
> Hope this satisfies! I was aiming to at least resolve one of the things in this chapter, but Steve and James kept talking about everything else, and then Steve was just being stubborn.... Anyway, hope it's okay. Let me know what you thought! :P


	14. Chapter 14

“Steven! So good to see you again!” James’ wife greeted Steve at the entrance to the kitchen as they walked in. James had barely got out the obligatory ‘hey, do you remember Steve?’ before Judy had embraced him, then waltzed back into the kitchen.

“My apologies, I don’t want to let the bolognaise burn” Judy apologised as she stirred the pot.

“Oh wow, smells great!” Danny greeted as he pushed past Steve to get into the kitchen, “You decided to make it today?”

“Of course! After we spoke, how could I not?! And young Bobby loves his spaghetti bolognaise! That soccer practice of his certainly makes him hungry” Judy responded.

“Football, Judy, not soccer” James corrected his wife.

“Oh, they’re all sports ball, darling” Judy answered, rolling her eyes at Danny, which only made Danny grin, “It’s all the same, isn’t it?”

James huffed, but thought better of arguing the point, “Come on, Steven, let the cooks do their thing. The Steelers are playing soon”

“If they win this game, they might be the wildcard and have the chance at the Superbowl” Bobby informed them.

“No football until you’ve showered mister” James rebuked him, then shooed him out of the room.

Steve chuckled as James showed him into the lounge room, “He seems to keep a good track of his team”

“He’s certainly an avid fan, we’ve seen him watching highlights of games he’s missed on Youtube or catch-up TV” James responded as he sat in an armchair.

Danny listed to the sounds of Steve and James getting settled in the lounge, before focussing his attention back on Judy, “I’m sorry, what were you saying?”

Judy gave a soft smile, “Have you and James convinced Steven to reconsider?”

Danny sighed softly, “Not yet, but I think he’s coming around. You know, his parents did the best they could, but it still messed with his head. He thinks he’ll be no better”

“Well, hopefully a nice home cooked meal will change that” Judy responded, giving Danny a pat on the back.

Danny smiled back at her, “And don’t forget the amazing company”

Judy chuckled, “Of course, dear. Now, you said you had a secret for making the spaghetti?”

The kitchen became a bustle of activity as the two prepared the meal, chattering away the whole time about nothing and everything. Bobby poked his head in the kitchen after his shower, but didn’t stay long when he realised the Steelers game was about to begin. He jumped up onto the couch, sitting between Steve and James to provide a running commentary on the match.

Much to Bobby’s disappointment and Steve’s amusement, Judy insisted that they eat their meals at the dining table instead of in front of the TV. Bobby scoffed the spaghetti bolognaise down in less time than it took him to argue about the seating arrangements, and then pouted when he was told he needed to sit at the table until everyone else was finished. 

The conversation was kept light as they ate and Steve found himself laughing more than he had in a long time. A sight which filled Danny with happiness. After they were finished with their food, they retreated to the lounge room to watch the final half of the football. Bobby whooped and cheered, becoming more and more vocal towards the end of the match.

“I don’t remember Charlie getting into the football this much” Steve remarked to Danny, with a grin.

“No ah, not football, baseball though, absolutely” Danny responded, “He usually gets his ball and glove and wants to play afterwards”

Bobby gasped, “Yes! Can we throw the ball after?! Please!”

Steve grinned at the boy, his enthusiasm was contagious. He glanced at James and raised an eyebrow in question.

“Hey son, you make the rules here, your choice” James answered with a chuckle.

Steve’s grin widened and he turned back to Bobby, “You’re on”

Bobby whooped in happiness, then quickly turned his attention back to the TV when he heard ‘boos’ from the crowd. The rest of the game passed by quickly and before he knew it, Steve was out the back of the house, playing catch with Bobby…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, massive writer's block with this one. Apologies if it felt like I've fast-forwarded some of the chapter, I wanted to give a general feel of the evening, rather than specifics. And I needed to think more on what Bobby and Steve talk about whilst playing catch... they wrote that bit in themselves...
> 
> Anyway, hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought! :)


	15. Chapter 15

“So, do you want to be like Roethlisberger? He’s still the quarterback for the Steelers, right?” Steve asked, as he threw the ball to Bobby, making sure if wasn’t too hard or fast.

Bobby giggled and easily caught the ball, “Yeah, mum said he’s a great quarterback, but he needs to let new players have a go”

Bobby lobbed the ball back and added, “Mum said Terry Bradshaw was the best quarterback”

“So, do you want to be like him?” Steve asked.

“I want to be better!” Bobby exclaimed.

“I’m sure you will be, kiddo” Steve responded, catching and throwing the ball again.

“Are you going to teach me?” Bobby asked, showing once again that he may be small, but he had a good head on him.

“What do you mean?” Steve asked, trying to deflect what he was sure the kid was asking.

“I heard grandpa say to grandma you’re going to take care of me now” Bobby responded, hanging on to the ball instead of throwing it. He looked up at Steve through his eyelashes, “Am I going to live with you?”

“Do you want to?” Steve asked, bridging the distance between the two of them, then he quickly added, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to”

Bobby sighed heavily and shrugged, “Why can’t I live with grandma and grandpa?”

“You can if you want” Steve responded, “It’s just… they want you to live with me”

“Why? Is it because you’re a policeman?” Bobby asked.

Steve shook his head and knelt in front of Bobby, “No buddy. I … They want you to live with me because… I mean, I … I’m your dad”

Bobby’s lower lip wobbled as he looked at Steve, trying to process what he’d just been told, “But… Why…? Why didn’t you live with me and mum? Don’t you love me?”

“Of course I do” Steve quickly answered, “Of course I do. I didn’t… It’s complicated”

Bobby nodded and his eyes went watery, “Why don’t you want me to live with you?”

“I didn’t think you’d want to” Steve admitted. He didn’t tell Bobby about the self-doubt that had been plaguing him since this morning, the boy didn’t need to know that. “Do you want to live with me?” Steve finally asked.

Bobby nodded again and brushed his eyes, “You can come to take your dad to school days”

Steve gave a small smile, “I think I’d like that”

“I’ll go pack my bag” Bobby announced and went to dart back to the house, but Steve stopped him.

“Whoa buddy, not just yet, okay? I … my house… needs some work. We don’t… I have a room for you, but … I mean, it’s pink” Steve lied. He wasn’t lying about his house needing some work though, it wasn’t exactly child-proof yet.

“Eww, pink!” Bobby exclaimed, scrunching up his nose.

“What’s your favourite colour?” Steve asked, “We can paint your room that colour”

“Blue!” Bobby exclaimed, “And I want trains! No, Steelers colours, yeah!” 

Steve snorted, “I don’t think the Steelers colours have blue in them”

Bobby gave Steve a big hug – and Steve was sure he wiped his snotty nose on Steve’s shirt – and said tiredly, but excitedly, “We can be like a family”

Steve hugged him back and admitted to himself that there was never any way that he would have given this up. He was just happy that Danny pulled him out of his headspace. He nodded, but refrained from saying anything, he didn’t trust his voice just yet.

“Can we play ball for a bit longer?” Bobby asked as he pulled out of the embrace.

“Only a little bit, it’s nearly bed time” Steve allowed.

“Yay!” Bobby grinned, “Okay, go long!”

Steve smiled and went back to the spot he was at before, but the ball caught him off guard, going far right and into the bushes. He ran after it, grinning as he thought, he could get used to this.

****

“Okay, out with it, what’s with the grin?” Danny asked. 

They were back in the Camaro, heading back to Steve’s house. Once Steve and Bobby had come back inside, Judy had gotten Bobby ready for bed and both had said goodnight. James had looked expectantly at Steve….

_ “Well, son? What’s the prognosis?” James asked. _

_ Steve grinned, “Can you look after him for another week? My house isn’t very child friendly at the moment” _

_ Danny whooped as James patted him on the back in congratulations, “Well done, son, you’re making the right decision” _

“Well firstly, I want to thank you for this” Steve started.

“Whoa, are you saying it was a good idea?” Danny asked.

“Yeah” Steve responded with a nod.

“So, are you saying that I was right?” Danny asked.

“Oh, I wouldn’t go that far” Steve jested.

Danny snorted, “Come on, babe, just say it for me, just this one time. Nobody else needs to know about it, I won’t tell a soul”

Steve laughed, “I don’t believe that for a second, but yes, Danno, you were right. See? I did it, don’t make a fuss about it”

“Are you kidding me? I have that recorded, ready to go at a moment’s notice, you won’t know yourself” Danny grinned, “Okay, what’s the second thing?”

“Well, you know how I helped you paint Charlie’s room….?” Steve started. If he was going to turn the guest room into a child’s room, he may as well have a bit fun whilst he was at it. And who better to ask? Danny always provided the best entertainment…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm feeling like there's only a few chapters of this fic left...maybe three? See how we go... Next one will be fun...
> 
> Happy for suggestions on what colour/s Bobby's room gets painted, because yes, that will be in the next chapter...and other things.
> 
> Hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought! :P


	16. Chapter 16

Steve stood back for a moment and inspected the handiwork. The room looked good; he and Danny had removed all of the furniture, washed the walls and were in the middle of the first coat of white paint. 

Steve wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and thought of how much his life was about to change. He would have to be more careful at work, and he would have to make an effort to have a life outside of five-0. He couldn’t put work first anymore, he had a family now.

A sudden cold sensation on his face had Steve startling out of his reverie and turning towards Danny. Danny, who had a mischievous grin on his face. Steve wiped his cheek and wasn’t surprised to see flecks of white paint on his hand.

“Why would you do that?” Steve asked.

“Do what, babe?” Danny asked, playing dumb, but his grin only got bigger.

“You’re going to get paint on the floor!” Steve exclaimed, but there was no heat in his words.

“That’s why we put plastic down” Danny responded, then he changed tactics, “And what would you do about it if it was me?”

“What would I – ” Steve stopped himself in the middle of his sentence and swiftly crossed the space between himself and Danny, and tapped his paint brush on Danny’s nose, then quickly backed out of his space before Danny could retaliate.

“Oh, that’s it” Danny said and tried to return the favour.

Steve laughed and dodged out of the way, swiping paint across Danny’s arm as he passed by. Danny shrieked, but quickly turned around and wiped his brush across Steve’s cheek and down his neckline. The two men continued trading blows and before long, they ended up wrestling on the floor, trying to gain the upper hand on the other. Not that there was much comparison, Steve pinned Danny’s arms above his head and grinned down at the other man. 

“Give up?” Steve asked.

“Never” Danny responded huskily, grinning back at his partner.

Steve snorted, then shifted his position so that instead of using his weight to pin Danny down, he was straddling him. He shifted his hands so that one of his hands continued to restrain Danny’s hands behind his head, whilst he grabbed his discarded paint brush and rolled it through the white paint bucket.

“What are you doing?” Danny asked, sounding halfway between amused and worried.

“I mean, you said just last week that you wished your hair was brighter” Steve commented idly, running the paint brush through the paint again to add to the drama.

“You wouldn’t! Nobody messes with the doo!” Danny exclaimed, renewing his struggles.

Steve kept a firm grip on his partner and grinned down at him, “Try me”

“You’re an animal, get off me!” Danny exclaimed, but his chuckle gave away that he was enjoying himself.

Steve chuckled and grinned down at the other man, intent on painting a white streak in the man’s hair, but he was caught off guard by the look on his face. Danny had stopped struggling and was looking at him with an emotion that he’d only seen on two people faces before – or at least, two people who’d looked at him that way. 

Steve dropped the paint brush, thinking _fuck it_, before he closed the gap between them. He pressed his lips to Danny’s in the faintest resemblance of a kiss, then quickly pulled himself back, worriedly thinking that he’d fucked up.

“Sorry” Steve muttered and finally let go of Danny’s hands, but he didn’t move from his position on top of the other man.

“For the quality of that – I mean, I don’t want to call it a kiss, but…?” Danny asked.

“What?” Steve asked, feeling like his brain had caught the express out of town and left him with nothing but cotton wall between his ears.

Instead of answering, Danny reached up and pulled Steve’s head down so he could properly kiss him. This time the meeting of their lips was far more purposeful, and Steve moaned into the kiss as Danny’s tongue slipped into his mouth and teased his own tongue. Then before he even knew what was happening, Danny’s tongue withdrew making Steve gape for more.

“Steven” Danny said softly. 

Steve closed his eyes and choked back a sob as he wondered what was going to happen next, at the very best, he’d ruined a friendship. At the worst…

“Steve, babe, come on, open your eyes” Danny coaxed him.

Steve nodded and turned in the direction of Danny’s voice, before finally opening his eyes. He didn’t meet Danny’s gaze as he softly apologised again.

“For what?” Danny asked, and he really did sound confused, “For taking so long to finally take a hint?”

“What?” Steve asked, finally looking at the other man.

Danny smiled softly, “What’s the matter with you, huh? Did your brain just take a vacation when _I kissed you back_? Not that your kiss really counted, but uh, points for effort, babe”

“You kissed me back” Steve found himself stating, then he said it again, because it was true.

Danny chuckled at him, then winced, “Babe, as much as I’d love to lay here, my knee is falling asleep and it’s gonna hurt like a bitch if I get pins and needles, so…”

“You wanna move this somewhere else?” Steve suggested, quickly getting his mojo back enough to give Danny a suggestive look.

Danny laughed, “And they called you _Smooth Dog_!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! It's been so long since I've updated anything! So turns out moving into a new house and whatnot really takes it out of you! Anyway, should be updating more often now.
> 
> Just a short one today to get my mojo back, this fic only has a few chapters left, so just have to figure out how to play them. 
> 
> Hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought! :)


	17. Chapter 17

Steve took a sip of his coffee and glanced at Danny, only to find that the other man was watching him too. Danny was looking at him through his eye-lashes, whilst also sipping at his coffee. Then the other man smirked, and Steve couldn’t help but return the gesture.

It was the morning after their impromptu activities and both men were feeling pretty smug – not to mention satisfied. Steve had foregone his usual morning swim, instead electing to have a lazy morning in bed with Danny. They were currently standing in the kitchen, leaning against the counter tops and sharing the first coffee of the day. It wasn’t like they hadn’t had the first coffee of the day together before, or even that Danny hadn’t had breakfast at Steve’s before because he’d crashed the night before, but this was an entirely different ball game. 

The atmosphere was calm, but exciting, relaxed, but full of energy. It was content. It was also a long time coming. 

“You still have a bit of paint…” Steve gestured towards his own ear and nodded at Danny.

“And who’s fault is that? Huh?” Danny responded, with a grin.

“Well, if you’d learn to shower properly, this wouldn’t be an issue” Steve pointed out, but couldn’t help the smile that slid across his face when he thought back to when Danny had tried to shower last night.

“You’re an animal” Danny told him.

“Mahalo” Steve responded, positively beaming at his partner.

Danny rolled his eyes and tried to change the topic, “So more of the same today?”

Steve chuckled, “If you insist”

“I didn’t mean – !” Danny broke off with a laugh, “What I meant was, we still need to finish that room”

Steve nodded, “I know, and the answer is yes, more of the same”

Danny grinned into his coffee cup, before taking a long sip. Before Danny could come up with a whitty remark, the doorbell rang, interrupting the moment.

“Expecting someone?” Danny asked.

“Not really” Steve responded, but didn’t make a move to get his weapon before going to the door.

Steve didn’t miss Danny’s sigh of relief when they clearly heard Bobby’s excited voice on the other side. He opened the door and found James on the doorstep, trying to contain Bobby’s energy.

“He wanted to come over and see his new room” James explained as Bobby barrelled into Steve for a big hug, then did the same with Danny.

“Hey little guy” Steve said.

“Hi!” Bobby responded with a toothy grin, “Where’s my bedroom? Can we paint it yellow? No! Black with yellow! Can we?! And we can put the Steelers stickers everywhere!”

“Uh, I don’t know about Black, but we’re gonna make this place awesome! You wanna see?” Steve asked, already leading Bobby down the hallway.

“We’re full of energy this morning, aren’t we?” Danny remarked to James with a smile.

“Usually he plays football on Saturday momings, but his team had a bye this week” James explained, as Danny gestured for him to come in.

“Yeah, we get Charlie to play sports in the mornings on weekends, wears him out a bit” Danny replied.

“Nice place!” James commented, giving the house a once over as they followed the sounds of Steve and Bobby.

“Yeah uh, Steve’s family lived here since way back in the day, his father held on to it, and now’s it’s Steve’s” Danny explained.

“Big house for one person” James said.

“That’s two now” Danny replied with a grin, holding up two fingers.

“Actually, I count three” James responded in kind, holding up his fingers, “Steve, Bobby and you”

“Me?” Danny asked, with a frown, grin still in place.

“Well, aren’t you going to live here now too?” James asked, stopping just outside Bobby’s bedroom.

“You’re not backwards in coming forwards, are you James?” Danny replied.

“Life’s too short” James responded.

Danny shook his head and glanced at Steve, who was animatedly telling Bobby about something in the room. “I don’t know, we haven’t spoken about it yet” Danny finally responded.

“Don’t wait too long, these things have a habit of falling to the wayside and then they never get discussed” James told him.

“I’ll keep that in mind” Danny responded with a nod.

“Wow! What have we here? Who’s room is this?” James asked as he went into the room.

“It’s mine!” Bobby exclaimed excitedly.

“What? This room is yours? But it’s so big! You could never fit in here!” James continued.

“It is! It’s mine!” Bobby said again, then started babbling excitedly about where he was going to put his things and what the room would look like.

Steve met Danny’s eyes and the two exchanged amused glances. It was like they had their own language. If looks could talk , they would have gone:

S: _He’s so excited! I think he likes it _  
D: _You think he’s excited now? Wait until it’s finished. And then you can get used to this all the time. _  
S: _This is amazing _  
D: _Congratulations! You’re going to be an awesome dad! _  
S: _Mahalo Danny _  
D: _You’re welcome_

At a convenient pause in the conversation, Steve asked, “Do you want a coffee, James?”

“I’d love one, son” James responded with a smile.

Steve beamed back and went to make the coffee, but Danny stopped him, “S’ok, I’ve got it, you stay here and bond. James, how do you have your coffee?”

“White and one” James responded

“Coming right up. Steve, another? And what about for the little guy?” 

“Always” Steve answered.

“Can I get a hot chocolate?” Bobby asked.

“What do you say, Bobby?” Steve asked, more out of habit from helping out with Charlie.

“Please? Can I please get a hot chocolate?” Bobby asked.

“Good boy” Steve responded and ruffled up Bobby’s hair, “Hey, do you want to help paint your room?”

Bobby gasped, then shouted, “Yes! Can I?”

Steve grinned and started getting him set up with the tools to get started. He still couldn’t believe that this was his life now, but it was something he could get used to. He loved it, and he loved that Danny would be part of his life now too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry for the delay, life has been crazy. I think everybody's has been. Hope everyone is okay!
> 
> **
> 
> Only one chapter to go, hopefully won't be as long til I get it up. Anyway, hope you liked this one! Let me know what you thought! :P


	18. Chapter 18

Steve tossed the steaks on the barbeque and took a sip of his beer. He was looking forward to a relaxing evening; just him, Bobby and Danno. Danny would probably spend the night… again. That thought always made him smile. This thing between the two of them was still so new, but also familiar and comfortable.

Between the budding romance (if you could call it that) between himself and Danno, and finally having full custody of his son, it was like he had the family he’d always dreamt of. It wasn’t even ‘like’ the family he’d always dreamt of, it _was_. 

A shriek from the beach had him turning to the sound, only to laugh when he saw Bobby chasing Danny through the water. He wasn’t even sure who the shriek had come from. Danny let Bobby catch him and he fell gracelessly into the sand. 

Steve shook his head. _That_ was the man he’d fallen in love with.

The familiar ringtone of Rachel calling Danny’s phone interrupted Steve’s musings, and he felt the urge to growl at the phone. But instead he shouted at Danny that his phone was ringing. It wasn’t as though he hated Rachel, he just hated what she’d put Danny through. He also wasn’t a huge fan about their last interaction. He couldn’t suppress the shudder going through his body when that thought reminded him of what he could have lost. 

“You okay, babe?” Danny asked, holding the phone to his shoulder whilst he talked to Steve.

“Yeah, fine” Steve covered, not willing to go into that with Danny right now.

“Uh okay” Danny shrugged, but Steve knew he’d seen through it. Danny indicated the phone as he continued, “Rachel’s in the neighbourhood and she has Charlie with her, she wants to know if she can say hi, let Charlie meet Bobby?”

Steve frowned and turned the steaks, just for something to do. He wanted the two boys to meet, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to see Rachel just yet. Even if Danny had said that she felt bad about the whole situation and wanted to apologize. 

“She said she totally understands if you don’t want her here” Danny prompted, “And uh, she said if she was allowed in, she’d be on her best behaviour”

Steve nodded, “Yeah, it’s okay, she can come around. It’d be good for the boys to finally meet”

Danny grinned and started talking into the phone again as he walked off. Steve shook his head and sighed, he’d have to forgive her sooner or later. But a bit of grovelling never went astray. Steve grinned and took a sip of his beer.

“Hey Bobby!” Steve called, turning back to the beach.

Bobby abandoned the sand castle he was making and ran up the garden to where Steve was standing, “Did you call me, pa? Can I call you pa?”

“I did, and you can call me what you like, son” Steve responded, kneeling down to they were at eye level, “But don’t you think ‘pa’ is a bit old?”

Bobby chuckled, “Danno said you’d say that” then he got serious again as he asked, “Can I call you dad?”

“Of course you can” Steve choked out past the lump in his throat, then gave Bobby a hug. When they pulled back, he said, “Hey, you have a visitor coming, you remember us telling you about Danno’s son?”

“Charlie’s coming?” Bobby asked with amazement.

“Yeah, he is, he should be here soon” Steve responded, and no sooner had he said the words then the doorbell rang. 

“Charlie!” Bobby shouted and ran into the house.

Steve turned off the barbeque – the steaks would be done soon anyway – and followed. Bobby had run inside, but come to a stop just inside the house. Steve perched himself against the wall and nodded to Danny as the other man opened the door. 

Charlie gave Danny a hug, before then barrelling into the house, then came to a stop a few paces from Bobby. “I’m Charlie” Charlie introduced himself.

“I’m Bobby” Bobby responded.

“Your dad is Uncle Steve” Charlie told him.

Bobby nodded emphatically, then took a deep breath and said, “Your dad is Danno”

Charlie smiled and nodded in response. “Wanna play?” Bobby asked.

The two boys went running out of the house and down to the beach. Steve watched them for a moment, then turned back to Danny, “Why is it that I’m ‘Uncle’ Steve, but you’re just ‘Danno’?”

“Because I’m cooler than you are” Danny responded with a cheeky grin, then squeezed past him, indicating with a hand gesture that he was going to supervise the boys. “I’ll leave you two to talk”

Steve turned back to see Rachel standing awkwardly in the doorway, “You can come in”

“Steve, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know. I just saw you and Danny, and you were drinking alcohol before the sun had even come up. And I just jumped to conclusions and they were wrong and – ” Rachel started blabbering as she came into the house.

“Rachel, stop” Steve interrupted, “It’s okay, I get it” he assured her. Huh, so much for letting her grovel a little.

“Are you sure? I mean, I totally understand why you were so upset and oh my goodness, I can’t believe you nearly – ” Rachel started again.

“Nearly” Steve interrupted her again, then reminded her, “Yeah, _nearly_, okay? But someone talked some sense into me and… You know that the reason I took what you said to heart was that my childhood was … it didn’t give me a good guide to how to do this. So I freaked out, that’s not your fault”

“But the things I said – ” Rachel started.

“Yeah, that didn’t help” Steve interrupted, but answered honestly.

“I’m so sorry, Steve” Rachel told him, “I – Can you forgive me?”

“Already done” Steve said with a shrug.

The two stood in an awkward silence for a moment, then Steve offered, “Do you want to stay for dinner?”

Rachel gave a small smile, “No, I’d better get going. I just wanted to apologize to you, and to drop Charlie off of course. I wanted him to meet his … what would they call them – step brother?”

Steve gave another small shrug and a grin, “I’d just call them brothers. And ah, I mean, Danny and I haven’t talked about… we haven’t talked about…. The future yet”

“I thought you were about to say marriage” Rachel prompted, “Well, you’re a good fit. You always have been”

“Thanks Rachel” Steve responded.

Rachel smiled, then took a step back towards the door, “I’ll be heading off now, I’ll call Danny tomorrow”

Steve saw Rachel out, then went out the back to watch his partner and the boys play – his family. Steve smiled and quickly snuck over to the beach, then tackled his partner when he least expected it. 

Charlie and Bobby shrieked in laughter and delight, whilst Danny got an evil grin on his face and grabbed for him, “You’re mine, come here”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finished! Thank you all for being with me through this journey, sorry it took so long to complete the last few chapters. But I hope you enjoyed it from start to finish. I enjoyed writing it, I love dad-Steve and I think it's a plausible scenario. Such a shame the shows ended, not sure what I thought of the end, but that's neither here nor there.
> 
> Anyway, hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought! :)


End file.
